On June 19, 2018, the Arena Football League Players Union sued the Arena Football League One, LLC seeking to enforce an arbitration award issued to Richard Ranglin on January 17, 2018. According to Section 20.1 of the leagues Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), “disputes under the CBA arising between the Union and the League are to be resolved exclusively in accordance with the arbitration procedure outlined in the CBA.” Also, pursuant to Section 20.8 of the CBA, “the decision of an arbitrator is final and binding…Continue reading...

Lane Johnson, Philadelphia Eagles right tackle, was hit with a 10-game drug suspension last season for the alleged use of performance enhancing drugs. In response, Johnson filed suit last month against the NFL Players Association, arguing that the Union’s inactions caused his suspension. Specifically, Johnson sued the NFL and the Players Union for allegedly failing to follow the collective bargaining agreement and the collectively bargained NFL policy on performance-enhancing substances in punishing him with a 10-game suspension.
After raising jurisdictional issues and determining that…Continue reading...

In the final hours before the prior collective bargaining agreement’s expiration, Major League Baseball and its players’ union reached a tentative labor agreement. The agreement just narrowly avoided a potential work stoppage and marks 26 years of labor cooperation in the league. The new agreement should extend that peace another give years, until 2021.
The agreement hinged upon a raised threshold of the specified payroll limit. This “luxury tax” was a penalty on teams that went over the threshold. According to players the cap was…Continue reading...

In a ruling handed down last week by arbitrator Stephen Burbank, the NFL has been hit hard with a decision aimed directly at its pockets. The NFL Players Association recently announced that the league must fork over $120 million to the revenue pool the league and its players’ union share. The arbitrator found that the NFL had “mischaracterized” nearly $50 million of revenue a year that otherwise would have been paid to the players. The order comes after the Players Association discovered the issue in…Continue reading...

On Monday, December 21, 2015, all 32 NFL teams responded with a joint motion in support of tossing a proposed class action lawsuit filed by a number of former footballers. The suit sprung out of the wanton distribution of painkillers by medical staff without regards to possible long-term effects on the health of the players, according to the plaintiffs in the case.
In their joint motion, the teams’ main argument is that the case should be dismissed because the ex-players’ claims are preempted and time…Continue reading...

On Tuesday September 8, 2015, a federal district judge denied a motion filed on behalf of the NFL Players’ Association, which attempted to reopen the long-running “Reggie White” case. Ending in 1993 with a settlement agreement, the Reggie White case was a class action antitrust lawsuit against the NFL. The settlement ultimately led to the league’s current unrestricted free agent system.
However, the CBA agreement arising from the White settlement was not renewed, and it expired in 2011. This subsequently led to a lockout of…Continue reading...

In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Berman, NFL Players Association lawyer Jeffrey Kessler argued that Tom Brady should have been fined, not suspended, as required by the league’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Furthermore, Kessler claimed that even if the suspension was in compliance with the CBA, it is still inappropriate because Brady was not given a notice of his suspension in advance.
Kessler’s letter is a response to a filing by the NFL arguing that courts have the authority to…Continue reading...

On Friday, a federal judge from Minnesota granted a motion to compel the National Hockey League to produce medical records in a multidistrict concussion lawsuit filed by former NHL players.
The NHL had previously refused to produce such documents unless specific players gave their consent, claiming the information was protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, physician-patient privilege, and the NHL collective bargaining agreement.
The judge opined that the disclosure of such information was permissible as long as…Continue reading...

The NFL is seeking the court to nix the NFLPA’s claim that teams colluded to cap salaries in 2010 during which salaries were unrestricted because the league opted out of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the players.
In a filing submitted on Wednesday, the NFL argued that the NFLPA is not entitled to any relief because the players voluntarily decided to release the collusion claim in a February 2013 CBA. Additionally, there was a separate release in the 2011 CBA barring the NFLPA’s current…Continue reading...

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